Google Makes It Mandatory For Loan Apps To Show Partner Bank’s Link: How Will This Help?

From now, apps that give out loans will be required to display a link to their partner banks or non-banking finance company (NBFC).

The instruction has been issued after a meeting with officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Money Loaning Apps To Display Their Partner Banks And NBFCs

Google updated its loan app policies on September 5, and the deadline for compliance was September 19, after which the apps would be removed from the Play Store.

In Google’s words, it will start removing apps “that remain non-compliant with the requirements past the deadline provided,” and the company is taking “necessary enforcement action” as part of “its routine compliance sweeps”.

The live links allow users to see which banks or organisations the loan apps are affiliated with, and the link will also highlight all loan apps that the partner bank or NBFC has approved in the past.

Loan apps on the Indian Play Store don’t have a good reputation, and they’re frequently accused of luring customers in with the promise of instant credit, only to trick them with hidden fees and false repayments.

In the worst-case scenario, the loan app could be fraudulent, putting your payment information or account credentials at risk.

All Loan Apps Must Include Vital Information

The IT ministry, in collaboration with the RBI and the finance ministry, has also proposed extensive legal guidelines that all loan apps operating in the country must follow.

Google has also stated that all loan apps on their platform must include information such as minimum and maximum repayment periods, interest rates, and other costs.

In a recent incident, a 28-year-old man took a loan of 5,000 from a mobile app and had to repay an amount of Rs 8,200 including the interest amount. However, the recovery agents harassed him and extorted a whopping Rs 4.28 lakh from him.

The Enforcement Directorate on September 16 said it has frozen Rs 46.67 crore worth funds from payment gateways Easebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm after it carried out raids targeting Chinese-controlled loan apps and investment tokens. The funds have been frozen under the anti-money laundering law.